Lawmakers have welcomed the Aquino administration’s plan to spend P141.8 billion for infrastructure projects this year as “well-timed” considering the continued slowdown in the US and European economies.
“This pump-priming program is very opportune considering that it would create jobs in the short-term and shield the country from the ill effects of the global economic slowdown as seen from the drop in the country’s exports last year,” Ang Kasangga party-list Representative Teodorico Haresco said on Monday.
Drop in exports
Haresco noted that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas had projected a one percent drop in exports in 2011 (with the country’s number one exports, computer chips, falling by over 20 percent), a reversal from its original 5 percent growth forecast.
“In the coming years, the country will be experiencing progressively weaker demand from global markets due to the financial crises in Europe, and the US Government spending on infrastructure will create jobs and opportunities, thereby stimulating internal demand from these projects in transportation, education, and flood management,” said Haresco.
‘Very timely’
“It is very timely that the government is bent on pump priming the economy especially in the countryside where it is needed most. Having instituted the necessary fiscal reforms to curb corruption, I am confident that government spending will be particularly felt by our people especially where they are needed most,” Ako Bicol Representative Rodel Batocabe said in a text message.
Batocabe said the government could not afford to rein in its spending like last year as the contractions in the world economy continue to worsen. “It’s time we used the government savings for pump priming and take advantage of the country’s improved credit rating to get more funds for spending,” said Batocabe.
Haresco said the government needed to start spending for infrastructure as soon as possible because it would take at least three months for these funds to trickle down to the economy.